2 US Navy Sailors Charged with Providing Sensitive Military Information to China

US Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. (AP)
US Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. (AP)
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2 US Navy Sailors Charged with Providing Sensitive Military Information to China

US Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. (AP)
US Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. (AP)

Two US Navy sailors were charged Thursday with providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, naval operations and critical technical material.

The two sailors, both based in California, were charged with similar moves to provide sensitive intelligence to the Chinese. But they were separate cases, and it wasn’t clear if the two were courted or paid by the same Chinese intelligence officer as part of a larger scheme. Federal officials at a news conference in San Diego declined to specify whether the sailors were aware of each other's actions.

Both men pleaded not guilty in federal courts in San Diego and Los Angeles. They were ordered to be held until their detention hearings, which will take place Aug. 8 in those same cities.

US officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

The pair of cases also comes on the heels of another insider-threat prosecution tied to the US military, with the Justice Department in April arresting a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman on charges of leaking classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other sensitive national security topics on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games.

US officials said the cases exemplify China’s brazenness in trying to obtain insight into US military operations.

“Through the alleged crimes committed by these defendants, sensitive military information ended up in the hands of the People’s Republic of China,” said US Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California. He added that the charges demonstrate the Chinese government’s “determination to obtain information that is critical to our national defense by any means, so it could be used to their advantage.”

Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested Wednesday while boarding the ship. He is accused of passing detailed information on the weapons systems and aircraft aboard the Essex and other amphibious assault ships that act as small aircraft carriers.

Prosecutors said Wei, who was born in China, was approached by a Chinese intelligence officer in February 2022 while he was applying to become a naturalized US citizen, and admitted to the officer that he knew the arrangement could affect his application. Even so, at the officer’s request, Wei provided photographs and videos of Navy ships, including the USS Essex, which can carry an array of helicopters, including the MV-22 Ospreys, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

The indictment alleges Wei included as many as 50 manuals containing technical and mechanical data about Navy ships as well as details about the number and training of Marines during an upcoming exercise.

Wei continued to send sensitive US military information multiple times over the course of a year and even was congratulated by the Chinese officer once Wei became a US citizen, Grossman said. He added that Wei “chose to turn his back on his newly adopted country” for greed.

The Justice Department charged Wei under a rarely-used Espionage Act statute that makes it a crime to gather or deliver information to aid a foreign government.

After pleading not guilty in San Diego, Wei was assigned a new public defender who declined to comment following the hearing. Wei did not visibly react when read the charges.

Assistant US Attorney Fred Sheppard told the judge that Wei had passed information to Chinese intelligence as recently as two days ago. He said Wei, who also went by the name Patrick Wei, told a fellow sailor in February 2022 that he was “being recruited for what quite obviously is (expletive) espionage.”

Sheppard said Wei has made $10,000 to $15,000 in the past year from the arrangement with the unnamed Chinese intelligence officer. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

The officer instructed Wei not to discuss their relationship, to share sensitive information and to destroy evidence to help them cover their tracks, officials said.

The Justice Department also charged sailor Wenheng Zhao, 26, based at Naval Base Ventura County, north of San Diego, with conspiring to collect nearly $15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for US naval exercise plans, operational orders and photos and videos of electrical systems at Navy facilities between August 2021 through at least this May.

The information included operational plans for a large-scale US military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements.

The Associated Press was unable to reach the federal public defender assigned to Zhao, who pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles.

The indictment further alleges that Zhao photographed electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a US military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Prosecutors say Zhao, who also went by the name Thomas Zhao, also surreptitiously recorded information that he handed over. If convicted, Zhao could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

It was unclear if federal officials were looking at other US sailors and if the investigation was ongoing.

At the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that, “I think we have clear policies and procedures in place when it comes to safeguarding and protecting sensitive information. And so, if those rules are violated, appropriate action will be taken.” He declined to discuss any specifics of the cases.

US Attorney Grossman said the charges reflect that China “stands apart in terms of the threat that its government poses to the United States. China is unrivaled in its audacity and the range of its maligned efforts to subvert our laws.”

He added that the US will use “every tool in our arsenal to counter the threat and to deter China and those who have violated the rule of law and threaten our national security.”



Russia Fires over 100 Drones at Ukraine as Kremlin Dismisses Transport Chief after Travel Chaos

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Russia Fires over 100 Drones at Ukraine as Kremlin Dismisses Transport Chief after Travel Chaos

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said Monday, as the Kremlin dismissed the country’s transport chief after a weekend of travel chaos when Russian airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. 

At least 10 civilians were killed and 38 injured, including three children, in Russian attacks over the previous 24 hours, Ukrainian officials said. 

Russia recently has intensified its aerial strikes on civilian areas after more than three years of war. Over the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday. 

Russia’s bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620 miles) front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched. 

The strain of keeping Russia’s invasion at bay, and the lack of progress in direct peace talks, has compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the US and Europe. 

Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukraine had inked deals with European allies and a leading US defense company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives “hundreds of thousands” more this year. 

“Air defense is the main thing for protecting life,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Monday. 

That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia’s long-range Shahed drones, he said. 

Extensive use of drones has also helped Ukraine compensate for its troop shortages on the front line. 

One person was killed in the southern city of Odesa, 27 were injured in northeastern Kharkiv and falling drone debris caused damage in two districts of Kyiv, the capital, during nighttime drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities said. 

Russian short-range drones also killed two people and injured two others in the northern Sumy region, officials said. Sumy is one of the places where Russia has concentrated large numbers of troops. 

Also, nine people were injured and seven killed in the eastern Donetsk region, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said. He didn’t specify the type of weapons used. 

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that its troops shot down 91 Ukrainian drones in 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the Black Sea and the Russian-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. 

The Kremlin dismissed Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt on Monday, an order published on the Kremlin website said. 

The announcement did not give a reason for Starovoyt’s dismissal. Over the weekend, hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airports. Other airports in western and central Russia also faced disruptions because of Ukrainian drone attacks.